


White Eyes

by TsunofDere



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Vriska John
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-25
Updated: 2012-02-25
Packaged: 2017-10-31 17:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsunofDere/pseuds/TsunofDere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All you felt was a piercing blade in your back. You knew perfectly who it belonged to. In a way, you expected it. You almost wished for it.<br/>This time around, your death comes swiftly. And you’re not going to revive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Vriska woke up for her slumber. She felt cold, and her side hurt. She stood up with difficulty, and staggered to her bath room. She poured some water, and washed her face. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, only to be greeted by milky white pupils that belonged to her._

“So I really am dead huh.”

_She let out a sigh. It seemed like being god tier wasn’t enough to avoid dying. Guess she really was meant to die all along. She dried her face, and went around the place. This was her hive. Well, a dream bubble version of her hive anyway. Her broken 8 balls were neatly piled up in a corner of her respiteblock. She smiled weakly at the thought of Kanaya, that had arranged them that way. She wondered how she was doing, now that she had cut Eridan in two. She remembered her former moirail’s skin was white and shiny – not unlike a rainbow drinker’s skin. She tried to guess whatever the hell had happened._

_Right as she was pondering on that matter – not like she had anything else to do – a crashing sound was heard and her hive shook. Some things were thrown from their shelves, and her pile of 8 balls collapsed – but well, they were already broken anyway. She went to see what had happened and saw that apparently something had crashed into her dream bubble. And this something was another dream bubble. Wondering who could inhabit it, she got closer to it. Apparently, the owner of the colliding bubble did the same, because she heard footsteps coming her way. Suddenly, the other person stuck out their head out of the nearest door._

“Is there, uh, someone there?”

_And with that, Tavros was in front of her. Both of them were equally surprised to see the other. The most surprised was Tavros though. Vriska just didn’t think their bubbles would meet so quickly – if at all. They stared at each other for some time. Obviously enough, his eyes were as empty as hers. He noticed that too, because his eyes widened. After some bewildered seconds, he finally stuttered:_

“So you’re… uh…”

“Dead. Yeah.”

“What happened? Uh, to you I mean.”

“Terezi killed me.”

_Once again, he seemed surprised._

“Why? Weren’t you two friends?”

_Vriska didn’t answer. He carried on._

“Also, weren’t you, uh, god tier? You even had wings and all!”

_The mere mention of wings and flight made him smile. His dream had always been to be able to fly after all. She lowered her eyes, a bitter expression on her face._

“It seems I… deserved to die. That’s all there is to say on the matter.”

_Tavros immediately understood he shouldn’t dwell any longer on the subject, and looked around, visibly trying to find something else to talk about._

“So that’s uh, your hive? It’s really huge!”

_She seized the occasion to change subjects, so she went along with it, and puffed out her flat chest._

“Yes it is! Do you want to visit it?”

_He nodded meekly, and thus began the guided tour of Vriska’s hive. She didn’t like the design as much as she used to, but being back in a dream bubble version of it after such a long time actually felt kind of nice. Nice and nostalgic._

“As you can see, I was pretty good at architecture, even at such a young age!”

_He chuckled._

“Kind of like how spiders are good at weaving webs, uh?”

_A brief memory of Spidermom darkened her expression for a split second. It was enough for Tavros to notice._

“What’s wrong?”

“I just thought of Spidermom.”

“Oh, your lusus?”

“Yes. She was so bossy, asking for food all the time.”

_A bitter laugh escaped from her cerulean lips._

“It’s stupid.”

“What is?”

“I don’t even know if I miss her. Even if I’ve had to do so many bad things to feed her, killing her was still… hard.”

_His eyes widened._

“You killed your lusus?”

_She winced._

“She was already dying. I just gave her a swifter death.”

_Tavros looked away shamefully._

“Sorry.”

_They both knew what he was apologizing for. Vriska merely replied:_

“A bit late for that but well, thanks.”

_Several minutes passed in complete silence, with the two of them walking around her stupidly huge bubble dream hive. Vriska was a couple of steps behind him, looking at his back. She had never noticed it before, but his shoulders were actually rather broad, almost muscular. She absent-mindedly thought that it was maybe due to his strolling around in a wheelchair because of her. She remembered the day she tried to kill him and failed. At the time, she didn’t have a second thought about it. But lately, it had been on her mind more than it should have – even before she killed him once and for all._

_The more she thought about it, the more irritated she grew. His forgiveness and lack of resentment made her mad with anger. She just didn’t understand why he didn’t hate her. It’s not like she expected any black feelings from him, but his indifference was annoying. She had wanted to kill him or at least hurt him. She half succeeded in the latter, but in an unsatisfying way. Even if Tavros’ body bore the marks of her murder attempt, his spirit was still holding strong. He was afraid of her, but it had always been the case._

_She had made things this way or, to be frank, she had felt compelled to do so. She had always been feeling weird when it came to him. Something in her just couldn’t leave him be, and was yearning for his attention. She wanted to dig her sharp claws in his tender cheeks to force him to look at her. In a way, she wanted this hatred to be mutual. But then, it occurred to her that this was pretty much black feelings she was having toward him. She remembered Mindfang’s journal and her musings about the Summoner, Tavros’ ancestor – this fate literally hit her in the face._

_That was too much for her to bear. Now that she had put a name on what was agitating her heart, it just couldn’t exist any longer. So she pushed him off a cliff, hoping that she would be able to feel at peace, at last._

_He didn’t die._

_Her feelings grew more desperate and violent – she didn’t know what to feel, nor what she wanted from him._

**_Fear me. Hate me. Go away. Look at me. Get angry. Feel something, anything._ ** ****

_But despite her efforts to antagonize him, everything she threw at him was swallowed up by a black hole of indifference. She messed with him quite a lot, ending up being reprimanded by Kanaya. She tried to put aside her animosity and play properly at Sgrub as Tavros’ teammate. And even though she hated to admit it, she was having fun. Real, light-hearted fun. Before, her fun consisted of FLARP sessions where she killed trolls to feed her lusus. She didn’t think it was possible to enjoy herself in another way. And yet, pshooing around with him in the game was fun._

_Then, Aradiabot came after her life; she beat her up, leaving her to die. But Vriska didn’t want to die yet. She had Tavros bring her on her quest bed, but even though she begged him to kill her, he didn’t do it. His muddy tears had mixed with her blood-covered cheeks, and his whole body was shaken by his sobs. She had made his life miserable, so she didn’t understand why he couldn’t kill her. Even when being begged for it._

_She stopped reminiscing this unpleasant moment of her life, and went back to her afterlife world. Maybe she could try to ask him. After all, now that they were both dead, it didn’t really matter anymore, did it?_

“Say Tavros” _, she started._

_He stopped walking and turned around to face her._

“Uh, yes?”

“Why didn’t you kill me back then?”

_He looked at her for some time, wondering how to reply. He finally answered:_

“I can’t kill anybody, that’s all. I know you think it’s, uh, kind of lame but… “

_She clicked her tongue impatiently._

“No I mean, why didn’t you want revenge? I tried to kill you, and I had always been horrible to you.”

_Once again, his reply didn’t come immediately. He seemed to genuinely wonder about it._

“I… don’t know, frankly. I just don’t know. Even if I know I should, uh, hate you.”

_She clenched her teeth; his lack of hate was just irritating – and more than she could take. She violently grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, hissing._

“Then why don’t you? You’re so annoying.”

 “I know this is uh, stupid, but I can’t hate you.”

_He put his hand on her wrist, but wasn’t trying to push her away. He looked kind of sad, but she didn’t understand why. She was too mad at him to care. All the feelings that she had kept to herself were starting to flow out of her sharp-toothed mouth, and there was no stopping it._

“Please release me Vriska.”

_It wasn’t an order, barely a request. He didn’t understand what was going on, and was a bit worried._

_She tightened her grip, trembling with barely controlled anger._

“Why won’t you look at me? No matter what I do to you, you just don’t care. You don’t care if I kiss you, you don’t care if I hurt you. I killed you for fuck’s sake…!”

_He lowered his eyes._

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying that! You should be… You should be the one to ask for an apology…!”

_He smiled bitterly._

“I’ve left you to bleed to death, isn’t that more cruel? Isn’t this enough a “revenge” for that cliff, uh, “incident”? And you know, the time you actually killed me, I was coming for your life. It was either me or you. But I guess that you killing me was uh, more socially acceptable. You’re a blueblood after all.”

_These last sentences were the last straw. She just started saying everything. She didn’t care anymore._

“I didn’t want to kill you; my reflexes got the better of me. I’ve regretted doing that so much. I don’t understand why…! It should be no big deal, just how the natural order goes. I’m supposed to be used to this, I killed thousands of trolls! And yet, I kept thinking about it… Over and over… This isn’t what I wanted…”

_Blue tears were rolling down her cheeks, and her head was spinning. She was now clinging onto his shirt, as if it was the only thing preventing her from collapsing on the floor. He was surprised by her outburst – he didn’t think she cared about that. And he didn’t know very well how to react, so he ended up patting her back awkwardly._

_She wanted to say other things, but they were trapped in her throat – or in her mind, who knows. The anger and regret were dizzying – everything around her seemed to emit its own light, and all that was to be seen was white and black. Her eyes were burning._

_She swayed. He caught her. Maybe her spirit still was weak – she had died very recently after all. Their surroundings were slowly fading away, turning into blankness. Her eyes closed, and she fell softly against him, unconscious, leaving him to figure out whatever had just happened. He lifted her and left her now empty dream bubble._


	2. Chapter 2

_As bits of consciousness made their way back to her, her limbs shivered. When she sat up, her thoughts were still hazy from the excess of feelings that had exploded in her. She looked around her, only to be greeted by the light of the sun – she couldn’t tell whether it was sunrise or sunset. Then she saw him, sitting not far from her. She moaned slightly as she started to remember all that had happened before she fainted. He turned around to look at her._

“Ah, you’re awake! I almost started to worry.”

_She batted her eyelashes, still trying to make sense of her surroundings._

“Where are we?”

“Right now, we’re in my dream bubble. I hope you don’t mind.”

_When he saw the bafflement that remained on her face, he added:_

“As for the place we’re at, I think you can guess for yourself.”

_She stood up, looked around her and finally realized they were on top of a cliff. But not any cliff, it was the one off which she had pushed him._

_Suddenly she was very awake, and to be honest, she was freaking out. Was he going to throw her off that cliff the same way she had done to him? A tidal wave of guilt overwhelmed her. She quickly glanced back at Tavros, expecting him to grin evilly, plotting her demise. But there was none on that – the expression he had on his face was otherwise harder to decipher. It was a smile full of pain and regret – full of nostalgia, too. He spoke again:_

“You probably wonder why we’re here.”

_She noticed that he was barely stuttering – and somehow he looked more mature and calm. He turned away, looking at the sea in front of them. She nodded to express her bewilderment, but then realized he wasn’t looking her way anymore. She swallowed a bit of saliva, and quietly replied:_

“Yes…”

_He looked at her again, and patted the square of grass next to him, asking her to sit there. He himself was sitting on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling in the emptiness. She must have looked wary, because he chuckled._

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to push you. Not that you would die anyway – I mean, once again. Since it already uh, happened.”

_She thought she would deserve to die again, once and for all._

_She finally complied with his demand and sat down beside him, her feet joining his in their swinging movement. She looked at the sun reflected on the waves below them. She didn’t remember the scenery there was so pretty. They sat silently for some minutes, before Tavros decided to initiate the discussion. They both knew they still had things to say, to explain._

“You know, ever since I died, I’ve come back here often – well, my memories did. I’ve spent a long time just sitting here, thinking. About how I had always been a coward, mostly. I still remember what you said that day when you pushed me off that cliff. “Advance or abscond.” When you think about it, it applies to pretty much anything. And the more I looked back, the more I realized I had been absconding all my life.”

_She interrupted him – her voice was raspy._

“You didn’t die a coward.”

His blank eyes widened for a second, before he gave in to laughter. It was a somewhat bitter laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

“What’s the point of being brave if you die?”

_His laughter seemed to be slightly infectious, because she found herself giggling along with him, even though she still had a lump in her throat._

“Guess so!”

_The conversation had become a bit odd, with the two of them laughing at life and death on the edge of a cliff. The pleasing sensation of fun from their days as Sgrub players was coming back, minus Tavros’ nervousness. After all, now that they were both dead and off the chessboard, many things stopped being important. Especially since it was just the two of them. Alternia was long gone, along with its social order. Right here and now, they were equals. And somehow, the atmosphere between them was completely different from what it used to be when they were on Alternia – or even on the meteor._

_All the heaviness looming above them had vanished away, especially for Vriska. Blood didn’t really matter anymore, and that was a relief. Nobody expected anything from her anymore. As if mirroring her thoughts, a fresh breeze of wind suddenly blew in their faces – her long hair was in a mess, with locks flying all around her, some even lightly hitting Tavro's face. He didn’t seem to mind – his eyes were closed, a quiet smile stretching his lips, as if to enjoy the feeling of the wind on his skin._

_The wind calmed down eventually, and he let out a sigh._

“The only thing I miss is being able to fly around. Even if it was with a machine, that was so fun!”

_She smiled._

“Yes, it really was.”

_They stopped talking, both of them busy with their own thoughts. The longer they remained quiet, the more it felt that they still had things to talk about. Their pre-fainting conversation hadn’t been a proper conversation – a one-sided breakdown wasn’t exactly what Vriska had planned. She coughed slightly._

“Tavros, about what I said earlier…”

_He tore his eyes away from the ocean to set them on her. His childish smile had disappeared, replaced by a much more serious expression. He apparently knew the conversation would come back to that. He simply invited her to carry on:_

“Yes?”

_As she remembered her earlier babbling, her cheeks slightly flushed – she had been a complete wuss, and that was damn embarrassing. But that wasn’t her main concern._

“You know, I meant it – the fact that I regretted killing you.”

 _He brought his knees up to his chest, letting his chin rest on them. He looked away_ , _maybe to admire the scenery, maybe so that she wouldn’t see his face. She’d never_ _know._

“Does it surprise you? I’d understand. I’m a spiderbitch after all.”

_He briefly glanced at her._

“You’re not a bitch. Can’t deny the spider part though.”

_He paused._

“But it was still surprising. Everything you said was surprising. Also, seeing you being, uh…”

“Lame? Yeah, sorry about that.”

_He rolled his slightly ivory eyes, and actually even dared to flick her cheek. What was the worst that could happen? He was already dead anyway._

“You’re not lame. I’m the lame one. It’s me.”

_She rubbed her cheek that had taken a delicate cerulean shade, frowning. She pretended to be offended – but the corners of her mouth going up betrayed her fun._

“What the hell is wrong with you? What happened to the boy-skylark I knew and antagonized?”

_He chuckled._

“He became like Pupa Pan, well, uh, except he can’t fly. So I guess he isn’t really exactly like Pupa.”

“Maybe some special stardust along with happy thoughts would do the trick!”

_Wait, this sounded very familiar. She had already said that before. When was it again?  Then she remembered everything – him crashing in her hive in his pupa pan outfit, her wearing her fairy dress, the “special stardust” that didn’t do anything, and the happy thoughts-giving kiss. Judging by the toffee color that had appeared on Tavros’ cheeks, he remembered too._

_The two young trolls quickly looked away in separate directions, their feet swinging fiercely. Vriska finally stuttered:_

“Sorry about that. That was very stupid. And kind of mean I guess…”

_He rubbed the back of his head nervously, as if he was trying to make his hair catch fire. His nervousness had come back in full strength. Also, it had brought its friend Blush. His cheeks looked like oranges at full maturity. Well that’s what Vriska would have thought if she knew what oranges were._

_They once again stopped talking – this time, to let their faces cool down from the sudden blushing._

“You know, I’ve been thinking that it would have been nice if we were humans.”

_He raised an eyebrow._

“Why?”

“We would’ve had it so easy! John told me a bit about life on his planet. Well, how it was before it was destroyed by meteors.”

“John? Is that one of the humans we were trolling?”

_She nodded, smiling._

“Yeah. He’s the red text kid’s best friend. His “best bro”, to use his words.”

_Tavros shuddered a bit at the reminiscence of his conversations with Dave Strider. He winced when he remembered the lewdness of the human kid’s language._

“Uh yeah, I see who you’re talking about.”

“Well I’ve been talking to John quite a lot – actually, I’ve helped him reach god tier. He said that culling wasn’t a thing on his planet, and that killing other people was quite a big deal. Their young aren’t tested, so even the tamest and the weakest ones have the possibility to reach adulthood. Also, social order is much less strict.”

_She sighed._

“My life would have been so different… Not having to kill anybody sure seems nice…”

“Yeah.”

_She looked thoughtfully at the sky above them, swinging her legs._

“I would have been so much nicer to you too, I think.”

_He looked at her, surprised._

“Uh, really? Why would you uh, have been nicer?”

“You aren’t a bad guy Tavros. In fact, you are too nice for your own good and our own species. It’s a wonder you lived so old, when you think about it.”

“That’s uh, rather mean to say that. I’ll have you know that I’m very fierce and all!”

_But the look on Vriska’s face made it clear that she wasn’t making fun of him. She resumed her explanations._

“Then, there was also the fact that you were low on the hemospectrum – opposite to me, even. I was expected to mistreat you, not be friends with you. Also, I was very stupid. I mean, more stupid than now.”

“Uh yeah, I guess the hemospectrum was very strict… I’ve never given it much thought since uh, we didn’t really have the choice.”

“I didn’t think about it either, until I started talking to John. He’s a nice kid. Very goofy and all.”

_She smiled to herself._

“He reminds me of you in some ways.”

_She didn’t further her point._

“The more John and I talked about our respective worlds, the more I wished I had been a human. Had you been one too, maybe we would have been friends. But now it’s too late for that.”

_Pause._

“Maybe not…” _hesitated Tavros._

_She stared at him, before cackling._

“See? You’re too nice for your own good. You can’t even hate the person who killed you after ruining your life. That’s no good! Maybe you should try punching me or something. That would be a good start.”

_He looked completely shocked by her advice. She let out a sigh._

“Gosh, you really need to be spoon-fed, huh?”

_She turned a bit around to face him, took off her glasses, and put them on the side next to her._

“Alright, watch well.”

“Wait Vriska, what are you going to–––“

_He hadn’t finished asking before a loud crack was heard. Blue blood started dripping onto Vriska’s chest from her nose. She nonchalantly rubbed off some of it with her sleeve._

“And this, Tavros, is how you throw a punch. Notice that the whole upper body moved forward to accompany the arm.”

_He wasn’t really listening, despite her detailing the move with her fist now drenched in blue. He was too busy panicking._

“Oh my god, you’re bleeding a lot!”

_She once again pressed her sleeve against her face._

“No shit, troll Sherlock.” _she snickered._

_She felt her nose through the fabric of her jacket._

“I think it’s broken.” _, she noted indifferently._

_If he hadn’t heard the words she had spoken, he would have thought she was talking about the weather._

“Geez, calm down you goddamn blubbering pansy!” _, she impatiently said._ “It’s your turn now. Do you want me to wear my glasses?”

_He was slightly freaking out._

“I’m not going to punch you…!”

“Oh come on, lots of people would kill to be in your place! I’m sure you’ll have fun!”

“I’m not going to punch you!” _he repeated, more firmly this time._

_She smirked._

“Oh, you just like to watch? Didn’t think you were the type.”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way, I just––– No!”

_He interrupted himself when she prepared to land another punch on her face, this time aiming for the jaw. He grabbed her arm with force. But he wasn’t angry. On the contrary, chocolate tears were appearing at the corner of his eyes. She looked at him blankly, before shrugging._

“Too nice for your own good.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Is that really necessary? It’s not like I’m gonna die or anything you know.”

  
_Vriska was sitting on a chair in Tavros’ hive, her hands quietly put on her lap. Tavros was rummaging around, looking for bandages. He finally found some, and came back to her to start putting a dressing on her nose._

  
“I don’t care. Please don’t do that again.”

  
“Even if I deserve it?”

  
“You’re dead. You already got whatever you deserved.”

  
_She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t nearly enough for her._

  
“Could I at least do it myself? This is humiliating.”

  
_He frowned._

  
“Make me stop then.”

  
“You’re not cute.”

  
_He slightly blushed, his eyebrows still frowning._

  
“Of course I’m not cute, I’m uh, manly as fuck.”

_She giggled. He finished dressing her nose, and went to lie down on his couch._

  
“I was wondering, you said that you went to the cliff… How long have you been in that dream bubble?”

  
“Hum let’s see… I didn’t really count, but maybe… a month?”

  
“Really? That’s weird, because for me it was yesterday.”

  
“Ah, yes, Aradia told me that time passed by weirdly in dream bubbles.”

  
“Oh, you saw her?”

  
“Yes! She comes by from time to time. Did you know she was alive?”

  
“You mean, there was an Aradiabot left?”

  
“No! She’s really alive! She’s just like she was before we stopped flarping! It was really nice to see her so happy!”

  
_He smiled happily. Vriska imitated him._

  
“That’s good then. I wonder if I’ll see her…”

  
“Yes probably! Since she has reached god tier as a hero of time, she can pretty much come and go as she wants. She said she would visit from time to time.”

  
“Oh, I wonder how she managed to reach god tier… Guess I’ll ask her myself when I see her. Did you meet with anybody else?”

  
“I met with Nepeta some weeks ago, so we chatted a bit. She didn’t tell me what happened to her. She just said that she was looking for Equius’ dream bubble.”

  
_A shadow passed over Vriska's eyes - she knew Gamzee was the one who killed these two, but she also knew that Tavros would be very upset to hear that. She decided that she would only ask Tavros if he insisted to know the truth._   
_Tavros mistook her silence for pain. Her thoughts were interrupted abruptly._

  
"What's wrong?"

  
"What? Oh, uh, nothing, sorry. I'm just kind of sad that they died I guess. I got along rather well with Equius after all. He gave me a new arm and in a way, he helped making up for some of the stupid things I did to Aradia and you."

  
_He didn't say anything. The expression of guilt and shame written all over her face was so intense that he couldn't bring himself to add fuel to the fire. Vriska was once again feeling sick of herself. The more she remembered her past deeds the way she was now, the more horrible she felt._   
_She wanted to smash her head against the walls, to tear off her skin, and to vomit. Dying wasn't nearly enough to make up for the suffering she had caused. Maybe if she herself suffered enough, she would be forgiven by those that she considered as her only friends. Friends she didn't deserve. Friends she had hurt._   
_But she knew Tavros wouldn't harm her, and actually, would try to stop her from harming herself. She didn't know whether she was happy about it or not. She had to find some other way._   
_For now though, she put these plans on hold and went back to Tavros. Something was bugging her._

  
“Hey Tavros, I was wondering... Is it even possible to sleep in a dream bubble?”

  
“Ah, yes, you can. You don’t have to, but it's better if you do. It helps you relax, as well as changing the contents of your dream bubble. That's how I got to the cliff in the first place. Well, now that I’ve got the hang of it, I don't always have to sleep a lot to do that. I can also tweak it a bit like I want. This is how I made my hive so close to the cliff."

  
_He seemed awfully proud of his mastery of his dream bubble, so she encouraged by asking other questions about life in the dream bubbles. While talking, she had gotten closer to speak more easily. She sat on the floor, her back against the couch, lifting her head from time to time to talk._

  
"Aradia told me it was possible to grow older in the bubbles..."

  
"Really?"

  
"Yeah! And uh, I don't remember all the details when she explained it to me, but it has something to do with how you feel psychologically and uh, biologically I guess. You grow in your sleep."

  
_He smiled._

  
"I wonder if I'll grow up."

  
"Oh, I'm sure you will. You already sort of did, I think."

  
_He sat up all of a sudden, grinning from horn to horn._

  
"You think so? Hehe"

  
"Maybe I should sleep a little bit... Yeah, let's do that."

  
_She stood up, briefly checked the state of her nose, and patted down her clothes._

  
"Where are you going?" _he inquired._

  
"Well obviously, in my dream bubble."

  
_If Vriska knew whatever the hell was a puppy, she would have mistaken Tavros for a very long-horned one (how was she supposed to know they didn't have horns?). A long-horned, teary-eyed puppy that somehow believed in troll Santa, and had just been told that in fact troll Santa was his lusus. She rolled her eyes._

  
“What?”

  
“Do you really have to go?”

  
“Well, where else can I sleep?”

  
“Can’t you stay?”

  
“Why?”

  
_He was fidgeting with an embarrassed expression._

  
“It’s just uh, I’m feeling a bit lonely, I guess? I mean, I haven’t seen a lot of people ever since I arrived here, and they all had many irons in the fire and------"

  
“All of them.”

  
“What?”

  
"Don’t mind me".

  
“Oh, uh, okay. Anyway yes, do you think you could, uh, stay here? Well, if you don’t mind of course!”

  
“Gosh, are you 3 sweeps old?”

  
_His lower lip was trembling. She frowned._

  
“Stop that immediately.”

  
“Vriska...”

  
“Shhhhhhhh.”

  
“Please?”

  
“....”

  
“Pretty please?”

  
“........Goddamn it.”

  
 _She flicked his forehead (_ “ouch!” _) and sat down on the sofa, beside him._

  
“Alright. So, where do I sleep?”

  
“Uh let's see, there's my recuperacoon and uh, this couch I guess? We just need to decide who goes where.”

  
““I'll take the recuperacoon”” _they both said._

  
_Silence. They looked at each other, first in surprise, but then sparks started flying around. Sparks of rivalry._

  
““I said it first!””

  
 _They got up at once, and ran to Tavros' respiteblock, shoving each other on the way. Vriska had to duck several times his stupidly big horns (_ “careful with your horns DAMMIT” _), while Tavros almost fell twice when she tripped him up (_ “that's LOW” _). They arrived in front of the recuperacoon at the same time, so the battle went on._

  
“It's MY hive so I should have it!”

  
“I'm your guest, so I should get the best bed!”

  
_None of them was convinced by the other's argument, so they kept on pushing each other to be the one to go in the recuperacoon first. Vriska fell head first, while Tavros jumped in – his head stuck out of it because of his long horns._   
_They didn't have a lot of space, but neither wanted to back down. They struggled to attain a position comfortable enough to sleep._

  
“Ok wait–”

  
“Ugh”

  
“Argh, no”

  
“Your elbow is poking my side”

  
“Your horn stung me”

  
“Sorry!”

  
“Move your leg to the left – no, the OTHER left!”

  
“Oh god I'm going to slip”

  
“Shut up, this is happening because you're a stubborn idiot”

  
“I'm in my good right, you're the one being obstinate!”

  
“That's stupid, you can't even go entirely in it!”

  
“It's not my fault! I didn't choose to have horns like this! You’re being mean!”

  
 _Several minutes were then spent trying to get Tavros to stop crying (_ “your horns make you look very badass, I swear!” _) before the sopor slime’s soporific effect kicked in, making them sleep like freshly hatched grubs._


	4. Chapter 4

“My, my, aren’t you two all reddy-dovey?”

_The voice of Aradia was betraying her amusement at what she was witnessing in Tavros’ respiteblock. Tavros was leaning on his elbows on the brim of his recuperacoon, while Vriska was curled up, except for a rogue leg that had decided to lean on the border of the recuperacoon in her sleep. Both of them woke up immediately – Vriska almost slipping in the slime while trying to get up again. Before Tavros knew it, she had shoved him out of the recuperacoon, her face blue with embarrassment. She then proceeded to ignore him, her arms crossed._

“This isn’t what it looks like Aradia!” _Tavros tried to say while picking himself up._

“Oh, and what is it then?”, _the red-hooded girl simpered._

“Uh, that’s a long story.”

“Seems interesting, do tell me more” _she chuckled._

“Oh, so that’s how you ended up like this!” _she mused, lightly bouncing on the edge of the couch they all had sat down on._ “Well I’m happy you’ve been able to reach some sort of truce! I was a little bit worried about Tavros, but I guess I shouldn’t have!”

“What makes you say that? I could totally torture him or something you know.”

_Aradia giggled._

“I know you won’t.”

_She was smiling alternatively at Tavros and Vriska, as if she understood something they didn’t. She stood up._

“Anyway, you seem to be doing very well here, so I shall take my leave for now – even though I’ll come to see you again!”

_Vriska lightly touched Aradia’s arm to get her attention._

“Wait Aradia, can you stay a little bit longer? I’d like to talk with you.”

_Aradia smiled._

“Sure!”

_Tavros, understanding that they may be going to talk about personal matters, muttered something about going for a walk outside and quickly left. Aradia sat back down, crossing her legs._

“I know that’s a bit late, but I’m sorry.” _started Vriska._

“Oh.”

_She rolled her black eyes._

“Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?”

“Let’s just say that recently I’ve been thinking a lot about what I did when I was alive.”

_Aradia chuckled._

“Because of Tavros?”

_Vriska frowned._

“Maybe.”

“Oh, still a sensitive subject I see. No problem!”

“Aren’t you still holding a grudge against me?”

“Nope! You see, this ‘incident’ happened such a long time ago from my perspective. And well, I guess reaching god tier and coming back to life did help!”

“I assume you’re not going to get your revenge on me then?”

“If you keep saying these kind of things, I’m really going to think you’re a ma… machitso… masotchi… er, I can’t remember the word humans use for people who enjoy pain. Guess I’ll have to ask Dave again.” _she shrugged._

“Why do you think I am whatever you’re talking about?”

“Well, look at your nose.” _she said, pointing at Vriska’s bandages._

_Vriska touched it, and realized it didn’t hurt anymore. She took out her bandages to have a closer look._

“It’s healed…!” _she concluded._

“Oh, right, I forgot to tell Tavros… In fact, you heal very quickly in dream bubbles since well, it’s your spirit that is hurt, not your body. Every time you sleep, your mind forgets you’re supposed to be wounded, so when you wake up, you’re in perfect condition. So yeah, there would be no point in beating you up again anyway – even if I was still mad at you, which I’m not anymore.”

“Oh.”

“But you know, you should move on with your life – well, with your death I should say.”

“I don’t know if I deserve to.”

_The fairy rolled her eyes yet again._

“You’re already dead. Who cares? You should use this opportunity to live life as you want. Or die death rather.”

“Maybe you’re right… But you need to stop with the dark humour.”

_She giggled._

“Anyway, I should get going. Take good care of Tavros!” _she said with a wink._

_She flapped her wings, and then she was gone._

“Damn fairy girl.”

 

_When Vriska went to look for Tavros, she found him once again sitting on the edge of the cliff, playing Fiduspawn. She stealthily approached him, and suddenly gave him a noogie._

“Ouch, what was that for?!” _he cried, his hands rubbing his poor hair._

“Just felt like it.”

_She sat down next to him._

“Aradia told me to say bye for her.”

“Oh, she left?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you able to uh, talk a bit?”

“Yes. It was very… instructive. For instance, look.”

_She showed him her nose._

“Completely fine!”

_His mouth gaped._

“Wow! How did you do that?”

“I didn’t do anything, the dream bubble did.”

_She then went on to explain what Aradia had told her. She didn’t mention the rest of their conversation – especially not the part where Aradia implied there was something going on between Tavros and her. She didn’t know what to make of it. Did they really look that way?_

_She found herself pondering about it more often than she would have wanted in the following days and weeks._

 

_Thanks to Tavros’ help, Vriska learned how to control her dream bubble somewhat. After many tries, she finally managed to recreate a dream bubble version of her hive in its Sgrub period.  They even managed to recreate the pshoo vehicles they had, so they started flying around the dream version of the land of maps and treasure pretty often. Then one day, Tavros made a request:_

“Do you think it would be, uh, possible for me to try flying with your pshooes?”

“Yeah, sure.”

_She handed him her pshooes, and he clumsily put them on._

“Ok uh, here I go.”

_The trembling in his voice betrayed his nervousness – and probably his excitement too. Flames appeared at the heels of the shoes, and his feet left the ground. Predictably, he lost his balance. If it wasn’t for Vriska grabbing him like a meowbeast would carry her young, he would have fallen face first. He restarted the pshooes, Vriska still holding onto his shirt to prevent him from falling again. He awkwardly, and shakingly, leaned on her shoulders._

_The sudden physical contact startled her a bit, but it was overshadowed by the feeling of his claws digging in her shoulders, looking for support. She let him do, since she knew it wasn’t on purpose. Also, maybe because the sensation wasn’t all that unpleasant. Aradia’s musings about her being a maso-she-doesn’t-know-what came back to her mind, but she dismissed them._

_She put her hands on Tavros’ shoulders._

“Alright Tavros, now you have to stand up on your own.”

“Uh yeah.”

_He was shaking when he let go of her. He stumbled a bit, so she grabbed him again by reflex – but he slowly pushed her away._

“I’ll be fine. Somehow…”

_He didn’t look all that fine, but seeing his determined expression, she decided not to interfere – she just patted him gently in the back as an encouragement._

_A lot of arm flailing took place, but he held his ground – or rather, his air. He finally managed to reach some balance, and seemed utterly proud of him._

“Are we good to go?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go then. I’ll use your vehicle.”

_She went to sit in Tavros’ pshoo device – it was more roomy than she thought. Actually, two people could probably fit in it if they huddled together. Maybe Tavros and her could– Wait, what was she thinking? This was stupid, and there was no way he would agree and– But she had considered it._

_She felt weird all of sudden, and decided to speed up a bit. This way, she would be able to blame the bluish tint of her cheeks on the wind._

_________________

_Weeks went by rather leisurely, with them having sleepovers at each other’s recuperacoon in turns, and flying around the dream version of the land of maps and treasure during the day. When they were too lazy to go pshooing, they would just play Fiduspawn or read books – Vriska had retrieved her beloved Marquise’s journal, and even if she already knew it by heart, she still loved to read it again and again._

_Then, one day when they woke up in Tavros’ respiteblock, Vriska suddenly said:_

“Tavros what the hell??”

“Huh? What?”

_Vriska stared at him in awed surprise. He was completely clueless as to why she was like this. She pointed at him and said:_

“You’re… tall.”

 _And indeed he was. He had gotten a head taller in his sleep. When he realized it somewhat, he whispered_ “What the hell” _and ran to go see himself in a mirror. A surprised cry followed – Vriska went to see him. He was examining his face._

“Gosh, I also look older… Woah.”

“You really do… Wait.”

_She examined her own reflection._

“I… also look different. What the hell.”

_Those three words were the most fitting to describe how the two not-so-young-looking-anymore trolls felt. She went to get something to measure her height, and found out she had grown by 10cm overnight._

_She came back to Tavros, who still couldn’t believe his empty eyes._

“I think we must be around 7 sweeps now? Wow.”

“Wow” _he echoed._

“Why is it happening all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know…”

_She admired the slight curves that had made their appearance on her body._

“Well, not like I mind it. I like myself this way.” _she concluded._

_She took a peek at Tavros. He was now quite taller than her – she reached the height of his horns. And he didn’t look bad at all. On the contrary. She felt a tingling sensation in her stomach, but didn’t understand what it was. It was gut-wrenching, but not in a physically painful way. But she felt it announced nothing good._

“Tavros?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s sleep in our respective bubbles from now on.”

“Why?”

_There he went again with his sad look. She turned away, and blurted out the first excuse that came to her mind:_

“You’re too big now, you’re going to take up all the space!”

“Oh… Guess so, haha. Okay.”

_Even if she wasn’t looking at him, the wavering in his voice could be heard. She bit her lower lip harder than she intended to._

_When time to sleep came, Tavros dragged his feet, but Vriska stood firm, and they went their separate ways._

_There was no way that she was going to sleep in his recuperacoon. Not with him looking like that. And even if it was more a “good” excuse than anything, it was true that he would take up more space, and they would have to be all huddled together to fit. For some reason, she dreaded such a situation._

_Also, she was somewhat irritated by the fact that he didn’t seem to realize the issues caused by their sudden growth._

_As for her, it had made her realize that they wouldn’t be kids forever, even in the afterlife._

_A week passed by this way when a bubblequake similar to the one that had brought them together happened. They went to see whoever it was, treading cautiously in the unknown bubble. A shadow passed them by, and stopped in front of them. And like this, the intergalactic coolkid, also known as Dave “motherfucking” Strider, was in front of them._


	5. Chapter 5

“Dave Strider?”

_The two young trolls’ eyes widened, for they perfectly knew who this human was. He looked slightly older, but was still perfectly recognizable. Dave, on the contrary, didn’t really have a clue._

“Who the hell are you? I mean, obviously you are trolls, but which ones are you?”

_Tavros seemed reluctant to decline his identity, but Vriska spoke for the two of them._

“I’m Vriska, and that’s Tavros.” _she said, gesturing at him._

“You’re Tavros?” _he echoed._ “Oh man.”

_He then went on a giggling fit._

“Haha yeah. I remember you.”

_He smirked. Vriska raised an eyebrow, while Tavros’ cheeks had taken a slight copper tint._

“Care to explain Tavros?”

“There’s nothing to say on the matter, really.” _he mumbled, looking away._

_Dave chortled._

“So I assume we’re divorcing then… Dude, you’re totally breaking my poor little heart over here. I may drop dead any minute – oh wait nevermind, I already did.”

_Vriska giggled – jokes about being dead were her thing too. He sounded too amused for this to be taken seriously, but Tavros blushed a bit more anyway. He got slightly closer to Vriska, as if trying to use her as some sort of anti-snarkiness shield._

“That’s not funny…!” _he complained._

“Stop hiding behind your girlfriend, I can totally see you and your big-ass horns.”

_Tavros arched an eyebrow._

“What’s a girlfriend?”

“The girl you have sex with.”

“Wh- Wh- What??” _stuttered Tavros._ “No, we don’t have this kind of… Oh my god…”

_Upon hearing that, Vriska frowned without knowing it. Dave snickered once again._

“Anyway, wanna come grab a bite? I suffer from severe pizza deprivation.”

“What’s a piz–“

“You’ll see.” _interrupted Dave, already starting to head off inside his dream bubble apartment._ “Just bring your troll asses over here before I change my mind and blast off in the afterworld faster than you can say ‘all the toppings please’.”

_Though a bit surprised, the two young trolls followed him anyway. Pizzas were waiting for them. They sniffed them curiously, wondering about how it would taste._

“It’s not poisoned. And we’re all dead anyway, so it’s not like it matters. Hell, maybe poisoned pizza is delicious and we’re totally missing out on that.”

_Tavros looked at Dave._

“Isn’t it difficult to see with your weird Earth glasses? Maybe you could take them–“

“The shades aren’t going anywhere, they’re staying right the fuck on my zombie nose.”

_Dave opened the boxes, revealing three of the most delicious pizzas he could remember – he meant business. Without further ado, they started eating._

_Tavros ended up with a particularly cheesy slice that stretched an awful lot, leaving him helpless with a long strand of cheese linking him to the pizza._

“Zrizka, help” _he managed to say through his teeth. She sighed._

“Are you a grub?”                                                                                   

_He didn’t reply, merely staring at her with tears at the corner of his eyes._

“Ok, hold on–“

_She got up to go help him: she took the slice of pizza, and held it out above Tavros with one hand. The other hand gently seized his chin, making him look up and open his mouth. This way, he was able to eat all of the cheese properly, munching happily. Dave watched the whole thing, and finally said:_

“Oh I see, she’s not your girlfriend, she’s your mom.”

“I’m not his lusus!” _she protested._ “He’s doing fine on his own!”

_She frowned, and went back to her seat to resume eating. Tavros laughed nervously, and the conversation moved on to other topics. The pizzas quickly disappeared, leaving them completely stuffed. They then played video games and watched an ironically shitty movie with zombies (Get it? Because they’re dead) during which Tavros was scared way more than he should have been. He spent the whole movie clinging onto Vriska’s arm, shaking like jello in an earthquake._

_Later on, Tavros and Vriska took their leave to go rest a bit. They were walking silently toward their hives, when Tavros finally said something that had seemed to bother him:_

“About what you said earlier… Just because I can manage on my own doesn’t mean I enjoy being on my own.”

_Vriska’s eyes widened, and she might have blushed._

“You know, when your bubble crashed into mine, I was a bit scared. Since well uh…”

“I was a huge bitch?”

_He chuckled._

“To be honest, I thought you were going to be mean to me… Uh, not like I want you to! I- I mean, you’re fine like this! I mean, you’ve been really nice to me so uh… Thank you.”

_His voice betrayed his nervousness. She could now clearly feel the fires lit on her cheeks. It was a good thing the wind was blowing, she thought._

“Why are you thanking me, idiot” _she said in a whisper._

_She cleared her throat._

“I just did whatever I felt like, if that makes any sense.”

_Even if she said that, it wasn’t fully making sense to herself. What was she feeling anyway? Whenever she started thinking about it, a tugging feeling appeared in her. Fuck. Oh fuck. Shit. No. What the hell was she even supposed to do? Damn. This couldn't be happening._

_And yet, here she was, craving to hug him and tell him she was happy she had been able to meet with him once again. The idea of burying her face in the pleats of his t-shirt had never seemed so appealing, and it was using all of her self-control not to indulge that violent impulse. All of it. She just said:_

“But yeah, it's a good thing I chanced upon you.”

_She paused._

“You know, I’m almost happy to be dead. Since I get to be here.”

_She closed her eyes, breathing the night air._

“I wish I could stay here forever.”

“Nothing prevents you from doing so.” _he simply replied, looking at his feet._ “Just do uh, what you want. If you want to stay, then stay. If you want to leave, I… well, uh, you can leave. Your decision.”

_But judging by his expression, her decision notwithstanding, he still had his own opinion on the matter. And despite his words, he didn't seem “0kay” with that._

“I won't.” _she said before thinking._

_They looked at each other for some time, as if evaluating the proper response to such an underlying feelings jam. Both of them were blushing awfully, as if some sort of non-verbal blushing contest had been started at some point. Vriska cleared her throat once again. Tavros realized his feet had gotten bigger since his growth spurt. Vriska sighed, and finally said:_

“Screw that.”

“Huh?”

_Now it was too late to back off. The gamble was on, and she had no way of knowing whether she was going to regret what she was about to do._

"I did that once, so I guess it's not a big deal. You'll be mad at me all you want after."

_She grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward her. Her lips went to meet his just like during Sgrub. But this time, her intents were of much redder nature. And what followed was different too. He looked at her, not asking 'what the hell are you doing?', but 'are you sure?'._

_For sole reply, she nibbled on his upper lip. So he advanced, holding her face as if to make sure this was really happening. Seeing how their hands were shakingly touching, caressing, pressing against each other's body, they both needed to make sure of the reality of this. He was clumsy as hell – they both were. But the amount of fucks that were given about this reached a staggering zero._

_Their lips parted for some time to allow them to catch their breath; they looked into each other’s eyes feverishly, as if looking away would break the spell, and make the moment disappear into nothingness. Vriska put her arms around his neck to pull their bodies closer, and his hands went to rest on her hips. The second kiss was longer, but not any less eager. Her fingers found their way in his hair, tenderly caressing it – as if to make up for all the time they hurt him. Their lips were locked together, like long-lost lovers reuniting after a war or, in their case, after their death. Despite that, there was no rush, because they knew they had all eternity for that – for so much more._

_Tavros interrupted their kiss, and for a moment, Vriska was almost afraid he was going to say this was a mistake. He stuttered, blushing:_

“Could we, uh, go inside? The idea that Dave can see us from his hive-thing is, uh, distracting. And, uh, kind of scary too, I guess.”

_Vriska’s eyes widened, and she started laughing._

“Sure, where do we go then?”

“My hive?”

“First one to get there wins” _she taunted._

“Bring it on” _he replied with a grin._

_They both went hurtling off, determined to win this childish race. Vriska had to go all-out to keep up with him – the damn kid had very long legs now that he had grown up. She barely arrived first, completely out of breath. He was breathing hard too, but this was nothing compared to her. They both let themselves fall down on the floor, catching their breath._

“I can’t believe you… You’re crazy!”

_She laughed, half coughing._

“I don’t care, I won!”

“Yeah, congratulations…”

_He let out a satisfied a sigh._

“That was fun.”

“Yeah” _she smiled._

_Some minutes had passed when he finally suggested:_

“Maybe we should go sleep in the recuperacoon instead of uh, here?”

“I don’t wanna get up…” _she complained, lazily rolling on the floor._

“Don’t be a grub Vriska.”

_She puffed her cheeks, pouting._

“Make me go then.”

“Alright” _he said, picking himself up. He took her hands, pulling her up. She wobbled – he frowned._

“You’re not even trying!”

“Never said I would.” _she grinned._

“Oh I see. Then…”

_He cleared his throat._

“I guess it’s not a big deal since I’ve already done that.” _he said, pulling off his best Vriska impression. He lifted her, carrying her in a fashion that would be best described as “like a princess”. She flailed her arms and her legs._

“Let me down!” _she asked, her face entirely blue._ “This is very embarrassing…! Wait, why do you mean by “already done that”?”

“Well, I’ve already carried you that way.”

“When?”

“Remember when your bubble crashed into mine?”

“Ah!”

_She blushed even more, and stopped moving around. He chuckled._

“Shall we go then?”

“Pfff, do whatever you want.” _she replied, pretending to pout._ “… I hope I’m not too heavy at least.”

“Not at all! Light as a feather!” _he smiled._

“This is getting really embarrassing.” _she mumbled._

“Hehe, sorry about that.”

“You’re not going to let me walk?”

“Nope!”

“You’re not cute.”

“I know.” _he smiled._

“Okay, that was a lie.” _she said, kissing him unexpectedly – he almost dropped her because of the surprise._ “You’re reeeeaaaally cute!”

_He stuttered, his cheeks all toffee-colored:_

“Doing that when I can’t react… That’s low!”

“Let me down then”

“No.”

_He then rushed to his respiteblock before she started putting up another struggle. He delicately put her down in his recuperacoon, and waved her goodbye._

“Good night” _he smiled._

“Where are you going?”

“Well, there isn’t enough space for the two of us so–“

“We’ll manage! Come on.”

_He blushed a bit, but finally joined her. By the time he was done moving around to fit in the recuperacoon, she had fallen asleep. Damn spoor slime. She nuzzled against him in her sleep, and he soon joined her in the land of spoor slime and dreams._


	6. Chapter 6

_Dave had told them he would be staying a week or two, the time for his bubble to be ready to set sail; he explained that he was forcing the encounters instead of leaving it to chance. He was looking for someone, but refused to say who it was. The two trolls visited often, even if both species had their own sleeping patterns – Dave slept way less than they did._

___________

_One night, Vriska was woken up by a queasy feeling. Still half-asleep, she decided to go out of the recuperacoon to wash her face in hopes of feeling better. But she was now longer in Tavros' respiteblock anymore. All the various furniture adorning the room - no, the room itself, had disappeared. It looked like she was in the eye of some sort of bluish whirlwind. The more she looked around her, the sicker she felt. She didn't understand what was going on. She lay against the recuperacoon to avoid fainting from the dizziness. The sound of heartbeats that weren't hers was filling her earducts, so she didn't hear it immediately. But once she did, it overshadowed everything._

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

_It was Tavros' voice. He kept on saying this, as if it was some sort of prayer. She immediately stood up - probably quicker than she should have in her current state - to look at him. His eyes were still closed, but his face hadn’t the peaceful expression that usually came with dreams. It looked more like he was having a nightmare; muddy tears were even running down his cheeks._

"I'm sorry..."

_A sob agitated his chest. Vriska started to panic, but managed to focus her spirits on helping him. She shook him first gently, but then more desperately - to no avail._

"Damn, the sopor slime is still...!"

 _She had to get him out of there, and wake him up. She jumped in the recuperacoon, and tried to lift him out. He was bigger than her, and the slime made everything slippery. And to top it off, it was making her feel drowsy. But she couldn't sleep, not at a time like this. She violently bit her left arm, hoping pain would keep her alert. After some more effort, she managed to free him. She immediately followed him to make sure he was okay. She crouched by his side, holding him and caressing his face, his hair._ _The whirlwind somewhat slowed down, and he opened his eyes with difficulty. She cradled his face with her hands._

"Tavros, are you okay–"

"I'm sorry Vriska, I'm sorry!"

_She was about to ask him what he meant when he started staring at her bleeding arm._

"Don't worry, it's not–"

_But he wasn't listening to her. He started crying violently, choking on his own tears. He gripped Vriska's shirt, shaking._

"I can't kill you, I can't kill you, I'm sorry"

_And she understood what this was about. She gently pulled him against her, while making sure to hide her arm. She was still scared, because she had never seen him that way – even when they were still alive. She didn't know what to do to make him calm down, so she held him even tighter, and whispered soothing words in his ear._

"It's okay, you don't have to, I'm fine. I'm here, I'm here..."

_She pressed her forehead against his. After what must have been the longest – and probably the scariest – minutes of her life, he finally seemed to wake up._

"Vriska?"

"Oh my god, are you okay? I was so worried...! Don't ever do that again...!"

_Some blue tears were streaming down her cheeks._

"Why are you crying?"

"You're the one who started that" _she protested._ "Apologizing like that..."

"You heard me? Oh... This uh, happens from time to time. I call that ‘memory sickness’. I hope you won't have this problem." _he said smiling weakly._ "Thanks for waking me up. That dream was the worst, having to remember that is uh..."

_He didn't finish his sentence, hugging her instead._

"It's just a memory now. You're here" _he said, as if to reassure himself._

_Vriska wiped away her tears and kissed him softly._

"Yes I am. And I'll kick you out of this recuperacoon every time you have bad dreams. I will even wake you up with a kiss." _she smiled._

_He chuckled._

"Thank you. If it ever happens to you, I'll do the same. I'll carry you in my arms and all" _he grinned._

_She chortled, planted a kiss on his lips, and nuzzled against him. They lay on the floor, completely still, her head on his chest. Tavros was somewhat dozing off at moments._

"Ah, I don't mind staying there, but maybe you wanted to go back to sleep? You look tired." _she inquired, sitting up._

_He gently pulled her back against him._

"Here is fine."

 

_The following days, Dave came over several times to chill at Tavros’ hive. He was initiated to Fiduspawn by the two trolls and, despite some reluctance at first (“what the hell is that game?”), he ended up playing along, enjoying it even. The game had been particularly fierce that night, so much that even after Dave absconded, Vriska and Tavros kept on playing – they had decided the winner would get to give an order to the loser, so obviously they both wanted to win._

_In the end, sleep won, as they just fell asleep on the couch._

_Had he not been so sleepy, Tavros would have certainly felt like troll P. Diddy when he woke up in the morning. But he wasn’t able to go brush his teeth with anything because he was weighed down by something. He begrudgingly opened his eyes to find out that Vriska was laying on him, nuzzled against him as if he was the cuddliest plush toy ever._

_A small cry of surprise escaped his mouth, waking her up. She moaned lazily, her body slightly shuddering as her muscles woke up from their slumber._

“Hey there.” _she smiled, her eyes half-closed._

“Uh hi V-Vriska” _he stuttered, his face increasingly brown._ “You’re uh on t-t-top of me.”

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious.”

“No, I mean, your ch-chest is right against my t-torso…”

“Sure seems that way” _she mused, not moving an inch._

“And your th-th-thighs are rubbing against m-my–“

“I know.”

_Her voice was calm, but the blushing of her face betrayed how nervous she actually was._

“Is that a problem?”

_He swallowed his saliva._

“No.” _he bashfully replied._

“Thought so.” _she smiled, leaning in to kiss him._

_Tavros could feel the heat emanating from her face, and he knew she was as apprehensive as he was, if not more. He slid his arms around her waist to reassure her, and he felt she relaxed a little bit – the way they were, they could feel even the slightest movement of the other’s muscles. As for him, his whole body relaxed as well, except for a certain area. Whoops. His cheeks were nearly set on fire by that realization, because he knew Vriska had felt it as well. He hesitantly looked at her, only to find her so blue that it was impossible to guess that her skin was supposed to be grey. She closed her eyes, as if ignoring it would make it go away._

"Vriska, are you ok _–_ "

"Shut up, I've won the game last night so I do what I want...! I can handle this, okay?" _she nearly shrieked, more to convince herself than him. He cracked a smile, gently caressing her back._

"I'm sure you can."

_She buried her face in his neck, no longer pretending she wasn't embarrassed to death (it was a good thing death wasn't a problem anymore)._

"Why am I so nervous then? This is stupid! And I'm stupid for doing that!"

"Then we're both stupid" _he smiled, pecking her cheek._

_Her mouth contorted into an embarrassed expression. After some minutes, she whispered in his ear._

"First one to undress wins."

_Even though this game had only winners, they were both more than eager to win._


	7. Chapter 7

“So what, are you guys banging or something?” _asked Dave when Tavros finally answered the door half-dressed._

“Wha- Whatever gives you that idea?” _, Tavros inquired, trying to look as calm as possible. But his voice was too high-pitched to hide anything from the coolkid, and he shifted nervously._

“Dude, she’s wearing your shirt, and it sure looks like that’s the only thing she’s wearing.” _he explained, pointing at Vriska parading inside the hive behind Tavros._

“So that’s where my shirt was…!” _Tavros exclaimed, turning around to look at her. And lo and behold, she was wearing said buttoned-up shirt. She only giggled in reply. Dave carried on._

“Also, you’re grinning so hard it hurts my cheekbones just to look at you. It’s like your mouth is gonna tear all Joker-style or some shit.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t try to change the topic, I’m not letting you go before you spill the beans. Hell, I’ll even make red bean paste with all the beans I’ll make you spill.”

“Uh…”

_His whole face took a blood orange tint._

“Woah, lighting some pretty sick fires on your face here. Was it that good?”

“Stop it Dave!” _he cried._

“I bet you’ve been filling lots of bucket or however that shit works.”

“Oh my god.”

_In the meantime, Vriska had finally put on her jeans – even though she kept wearing Tavros’ shirt like it was a trophy. She went to meet them, and Tavros moved closer to her – or rather, escaped from the young human trying to make Japanese delicacies out of his embarrassment. But that wasn’t so easy. Dave called out at him:_

“Hey Tavros.”

“Yes?”

“Congrats on the troll sex!” _he smirked with his thumb up._

_The only response he got was an incoherent mess of vowels and consonants probably not meant to be associated that way. Vriska’s grin probably didn’t help either. Or maybe it was just because of her hand that had found its way in the back pocket of his trousers, who knows._

“Oh by the way, I came here to say bye, since I’m leaving approximately soon. My dream bubble is ready to leave, and I wanna resume searching for that guy asap.” _Dave explained._

“Oh, really? Good luck then!” _smiled Tavros._

“It was pretty cool to hang out with you, even if your alien games are weird as hell.”

“Come on, you were having fun too!” _quipped Vriska, slapping him on the shoulder._

“Yeah sure whatever.” _he shrugged._

_They exchanged one last farewell and after a nod, he flash stepped back to his dream bubble, and blasted off swiftly, leaving them on their own._

_Tavros felt slightly bummed afterwards to lose some of his company, but Vriska reassured him they would probably meet other people sooner or later._

“Hum, that’s true” _he finally admitted,_ “And well, you’re here so that’s okay.”

_______

 _Weeks, then months passed for the two of them. Aradia came to visit quite often – and didn’t forget to muse out loud about how_ “you guys are so close, I’m jealous” _and also that_ “Vriska has gone all soft, how cute”. _To which they replied with nervous laughs and gritted teeth. They went to some other dream bubbles with her, and got to see some of the others, before going back to their own bubbles._

 _During that period, they went through another growth spurt, which was starting to cause some problems (_ “Fuck, your horns are getting stupidly big!” _). Because of Tavros’ imposing horns, they had to rearrange both of their hives: they enlarged doorways, and put most of the ornaments away to avoid breaking them. Even when they cuddled they had to be careful not to destroy half of the room in the process – what would it be if they were in the black quadrant? They both shuddered at the thought._

 _Tavros was fairly unhappy with his massive horns, and Vriska even caught him trying to saw them off (_ “what the hell were you thinking??” _). He gave up when he realized they would go back to normal after sleeping anyway._

______________

“John?”

_When Vriska recognized who owned the dream bubble that had just hit theirs, she almost fainted. But she was then reassured to see that he was alive, his blue pupils still behind his glasses. She called out to him, and he waved back. She turned to Tavros:_

“Do you mind if I go talk to him for a little bit?”

_He frowned very slightly, but nodded anyway:_

“Sure.”

_She stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips._

“I won’t be long.” _she said, smiling._

_They went their separate ways, Vriska going to meet John, and Tavros going back to his dream hive. John greeted her cheerfully._

“It’s nice to finally see you-“

_The last word was barely audible – it corresponded to the moment he had noticed the whiteness of her eyes. She smiled sadly._

“Yeah… Some stuff happened since the last time we talked…”

“But how did this happen? Who did that? Was it Jack Noir?”

_She looked at him, and finally answered ‘yes’. That was a lie, of course. But she didn’t want him to bear a grudge against Terezi – who was probably still alive. Jack Noir would be the perfect culprit – and well, it was because she had wanted to fight him that Terezi had killed her. That, among other reasons._

_John frowned – he seemed upset by this. Vriska tried to change the conversation into a lighter-hearted subject._

“Ah, but it’s okay, being dead isn’t all that bad! I mean, I was able to change some of the things I had told you about!”

_He seemed a bit confused. She carried on._

“You know, I told you that I had… killed someone. Well, many more people than that, but that’s not the point.”

“Ah, yes! Did you see him then?”

_She smiled._

“He just left” _, she replied, pointing to where Tavros went._

_John grinned, nudging her playfully._

“I see that it went well, you trollkiller!”

_She gave him a look._

“That… probably wasn’t a good idea to adapt this human nickname. My bad…” _he immediately apologized._ “What I meant to say was that you totally wooed him apparently!”

_She smiled, and flipped her hair in a flashy way._

“Of course I did! Who do you think I am?”

“Ah, catch me, I’m swooning!” _he replied jokingly, leaning back in a dramatic fashion._ “I shouldn’t have looked at you directly, ugh…!”

_She chortled, and he also laughed. They chatted away for some more time. It was then time for him to wake up, so they hugged, and his bubble disappeared with a ‘pop’._

_Vriska walked back to Tavros’ hive, where he was watching a movie on his husktop._

“I’m back” _she said, going to lie down on the couch he sat on, settling her head on his lap. She closed her eyes._

“Are you alright?” _he inquired, fiddling with a strand of her hair._

“Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

“I don’t know… You seem to like that John human a lot…” _he frowned, looking away somewhat grumpily._

_She blinked, before starting to grin._

“Are you jealous of him?”

_He puffed his cheeks._

“…Maybe.”

_She chuckled at how cute he looked when he was trying to be jealous. Well, as “cute” as an almost 7 feet tall troll could get, anyway._

“You don’t need to be.” _she whispered lovingly. She almost said something cheesy, but instead chose to convey it with a kiss._

“I’m not leaving anytime soon. Or ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic ever, so I still have many things to learn, but I hope you have enjoyed reading White Eyes as much as I have enjoyed writing it. My next work will very probably be about Dave and Jade - I don't know when it will be published though.


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